


The Man with the Golden Smile

by Floris_Oren



Category: The A-Team, White Collar
Genre: Case Fic, Decker knows nothing, Didn't turn out like anything out of White Collar or the A-Team, Fraud, Neal is grounded, No Sex, One Shot, The Team has split up, but Face knows what he is doing, like this is so tame to what I write most of the time, mob, no violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Floris_Oren/pseuds/Floris_Oren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Templeton Peck is in New York City; the Team is scattered to the winds and they're all lying low because of Decker. But when an old Army Buddy needs help. Everyone rally's to help everyone else in a very round-about way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Man with the Golden Smile

**Author's Note:**

> WHY has there not been a White Collar/A-Team cross over? why? why? why? Templeton commits fraud every time he does anything with the Team's money. Like, the government would take any of their assets if it were in their real names. Right? So. here we are. ;) Probably not the best case fic ever. But I tried and I'll try again in the future. I just needed a break from what I write most of the time and I really, really LOVE Face.

  
Face's safe house has the best view of Manhattan, baring that which his Neighbor, Mrs. Ellington, owned. Not that he cared. And like all things he loved to achieve while doing a con, it was fancy and cost a bit of change. The Team are elsewhere at the same time so he doesn't have to worry about Hannibal bringing the bad guy of the week to his front stoop. He doesn't have to worry about the Arabian rugs getting blood stained, or his favorite smoking robe getting a bullet hole or any other sort of things that happen while on a Mission for someone who can't get any legal help.

And, it's a chance to brush up and the who's who of the Criminal Underground; Face does not consider himself a criminal. Technically, they would have aborted the Hanoi Mission if they had known but when you're knee deep in the forests of Vietnam without a telephone, well, shit happens.

As it stands, there's a group of people calling themselves Leverage and they once operated out of L.A., Boston and Portland. There's also an interesting program being run out of the FBI. Where Con's can work with an FBI handler while on a tracking anklet but that means they're out of Prison so it's a win-win if anyone can get a FBI Agent to go for it.

Decker would still have him and the rest of the Team before a Firing Squad though. The Army worked differently from the other Alphabet Children. FBI and CIA tried to be tough. But they had jack shit on the Army. Or the Green Berets even and so while interesting Face didn't put too much stock in it.

And while he was updating himself; a report that showed up on his doorstep quite by accident, told him that Decker was still chasing after ghosts in California. Face sighed. At least the rest of the Team where out of the country. If Decker came this way, he'd have to deal with the man on his own.

Fun Times.

  
~*~

Neal Caffrey had known the building next to June's had been empty for some time. When Mozz had looked into it they found out that it belonged to someone by the name of Richard Bancroft. However the records are sketchy and while legal, Neal has had his eye on the place. And last night, the lights were on. He then called Mozz and everything clicked into place.

Mozz sits on the veranda with June who's been clued into everything. There's a small ledge and they can look down onto the next door's neighbor's balcony. There's no one on it right now but Neal is certain he could get onto it if he has too. He's used it as an escape rout a time or two before.

"You mean, Faceman...as in The Faceman?" June asked, impressed.

"He's not all that and a bar of chocolate." Mozz frowned. His personal feelings being that Neal is the best conman in the area. Thank you very much. Neal adore's Mozzie's adoration of him.

"Templeton Peck,"June hummed. "I heard from a friend of Byron's that he once got a Pink Cadillac into the middle of Vietnam for the Base Commander."

"I think he's stolen some art as well," Neal put in. "He also gets things set up for the A-Team. Right, Mozz? when they have to do an out of state Mission or whatever."

"Yeah, he usually goes and scouts things out." Mozz said. "I got a strange request, someone wanted to know where a Army Officer was and what he was doing..."

"Did you know who requested it?" Neal asked.

"Yeah, Virgil. You know him." Mozz replied.

When Neal was sixteen, after he'd run away from home. Took his previous name back. He had run into a Vet who'd run some scams on the side. He in turn introduced him to Mozz and they both taught Neal how to play the game.

"He mentioned a Faceman every once in a while, when he was trying to teach me a new con." Neal snapped his fingers.

"How much you want to bet it's the same person?" Mozz smiled.

"Now, the two of you aren't going to ruin anything for him." June out in. "Usually I like to watch, but I don't think you should ruin your friend's friend." she admonished.

"We're just bored." Neal shrugged.

June gave him a look.

"I promise I won't do anything to The Faceman. He's a good guy as far as I know..." Neal looked to Mozzie who just shrugged.

"I don't know much about him but I'm certain he just wants to lie low." Mozz replied. "Apparently they had a run in with this Decker person. I bet it's why I got that request from Virgil."

Neal nodded; "Than it's fine."

~*~

Things weren't fine. Virgil hadn't any plans to bother Templeton. Only things had gotten out of hand. And being short a hand himself, well, he needed someone who knew a thing or two. That wasn't because he didn't trust the others. Mozz and Neal were great friends. But Neal was on a leash and Mozz couldn't handle a gun.

He rang the bell, moments later it's opened by Templeton who looks worse for the wear. "Sorry, Temm, I shouldn't have come." changing his mind abruptly Virgil turned to leave. To find another way. But a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Where you followed?" the question is simple. He shakes his head.

"Come inside, you may only get one member of the Team but I'll help. I'll also wave the fee." Templeton laughed as he showed his guest in. Virgil ran a hand through stringy, blond hair. He takes the seat Templeton provided.

"You'd charge an old friend? after I saved your life?" Virgil joked because the past was something they could both talk about. Most people around him didn't know squat. Templeton, on the other hand he could talk with about it.

"Hey now, my own Team charge me when I..." Templeton stopped himself. Virgil knew the story, he didn't have to be told about Leslie.

"Anyway, what's wrong? I know you have a gambling problem but last time we talked you had it under control or were you lying to me?" Templeton came back with two mugs of coffee. He never served alcohol around Virgil. He'd left the Team for a couple of months to try and get Virgil clean. It had worked and by the time he'd left Virgil was sober as ever.

"It's the gambling, I've stayed off the drink but..."

"And you don't have the money to pay them back." Templeton finished. He knew how it went. He and the Team had helped many people with the Mob. They're a name to be careful of in the Underground.

"I'd ask my other friends but..."

"Oh yeah?"

"I won't give names."

"In my experience those types won't help because they're squeamish around guns." Templeton added.

"Don't get me wrong, the friends I have are good. They've never let me down. I just can't ask them. I can't get them mixed up with...Shannon."

"Karl Shannon...?"

"And his brother." Virgil added.

"Tom." Templeton cringed. "Oh man. I figured as long as you managed to pay them off..." he sighed.

"I was. Karl and I had a deal. It was fine until his brother practically demanded more to do with the family business. Then he came around, demanding more. I called Karl. He said he'd take care of it. Because I wasn't behind and..." Virgil sighed.

"Sounds like the usual loan shark bullshit." Templeton said.

"I'm sorry, Temm, I have no one else to ask." Virgil shook his head. "I don't mind owing the money, I don't mind paying them back. I do mind being strong armed and my business ruined and..."

"Yeah." Templeton agreed.

"We'll have to talk to them one more time, make a play ourselves. Then, we'll have to call in the big guns." Templeton said, and con already being put together.

"What do you mean?" Virgil asked, worried. "You aren't...?"

"I'll need to get into the FBI building....possibly." Templeton muttered. Trying to think of which cover would do that the best. "Without Decker getting pinged. I know we're in all the data bases."

"That's too dangerous." Virgil said. "I can help."

"I know. I may have you do it, if I think you won't get caught. All we need to do is plant some evidence anyway. Something that'll get the White Collar fellow's to look into Shannon's business deals. Any numbers that look even slightly suspicious would get them to look into the man." Templeton said. "Also, the head Agent will probably get a reward for taking him and the rest of the Mob down and technically speaking all we really need is them bringing files and stuff out of a public office and the man is ruined."

"The White Collar Division is headed by Burke." Virigl said.

"Yeah? and is he straight laced?" Templeton asked.

"Yeah, no way will that man take a bribe." Virgil replied.

Templeton smiled. "He sounds like just the Agent I need."

~*~

Three Pictures hang on the evidence board in the meeting room when Neal arrived for work; Brian Austin, Karl Shannon and Tom Shannon all have the top spots. Brian is out of Texas and wears a cowboy hat in most of his pictures. He's also a very sharp, it's said he can smell a con man a mile away. He's tall and relatively handsome. Tom and Karl are twins, dark hair, Karl is shaven and wears suites while Tom is usually dressed casual and doesn't shave at all. His beard is a bit scraggly. He likes to use a knife on people and there are several murder's that can be tied to him, but Karl keeps his brother safe from the long arm of the law. Now, he's the families loan shark collector.

"Whoa." Neal whistled, "We're taking down some small guppies."

"They may not be a Senator or anything, but they can still do some damage." Peter said as he breezed in. Looking confident as all hell. Neal liked that look on him. It was sexy as fuck.

"How are we going to take them down?" Jones asked from his chair.

"We need some evidence so right now it's surveilance, and Neal, you're staying here and going through tax returns."

Neal groaned; "But Daaaaddd....!"

"No but's Mister. You're grounded, remember?" Peter frowned.

Neal sighed; "You'd have gotten killed."

"I've had your radius changed so that you can't leave this office, so don't even think about doing anything stupid." Peter replied. Neal sighed and nodded.

"Okay. Fine. But if you wind up dead, Elizabeth can't blame me for it. Okay?" Neal crossed his arms over his chest

"Deal." Peter said and then he gave out the rest of the assignment and sent them all on their way.

~*~

Face wore one of his better business suits. A Three Piece with a red tie. He double checked his small revolver that'd be hidden in a compartment of his jacket. It was so hard to hide weapons these days, once a good spot was found it was impossible to use it again.

Still a nice deflection could work wonders.

He turned to Virgil who'd taken a shower at Face' behest. The man wore a suite that Face had laid back for Hannibal. He wasn't Hannibal's size but it worked well enough. Face found a hair tie and drew comb through the semi-dry hair and put it into a pony tail.

"Now, you look like a Hippie who's done well for himself." Face grinned. A small spritz of cologne and Virgil looked like a new man.

"See, everything looks better when you feel better." Face said. "New clothes and a shower changes a lot of things some times."

"I know." Virgil replied. Face smiled.

"Okay, let's go talk to these guys." and out the door they went.

~*~

A while ago, Peter had been contacted by a Roderick Decker in a bid to gain some leverage on the A-Team. It was after Peter had put Neal Caffrey into Prison. He had looked at all the IRS documents, had found and burned some safe houses but then he was warned off the case and he had left it to the Army.

He hadn't known that he'd ever come so close to the Team's Confidence Man; Templeton Peck. If Neal were in the Van he'd hear some ribbing about how no one had caught the A-Team without them wanting it to happen, or how many times they'd broken out of prison. Not counting the Time they ran a scam in one and three of the members got themselves arrested to bring down a fight ring the Prison was hosting. Neal might take the ribbing in good taste, he might say something about he learnt a thing or two from The Faceman. Then he'd disappear and put the whole thing at risk.

Which is why it's very good that Neal is grounded when Lieutenant Peck shows up with someone who was not in the stack of wanted posters Decker and slathered all over the DBI building. Acting as if he owned it. That motherfucker.

"Get me audio." Peter told Jones. A nice flower delivery had given them an in for the bugs, after waiting for the legal paperwork. They needed this to all be above board and legal. Otherwise Karl and his brother will skip out of town laughing all the way to the bank. They were all excited. And Willing to let things take it's course. They didn't have any reason to arrest anyone anyway. After all, Decker is the only one who can arrest the A-Team. So what if Peter doesn't "recognized" Peck on sight. It had, after all, been years since he'd worked that case.

Things had gotten decidedly interesting.

~*~

"Let me do all the talking," Face told Virgil. He rung the bell at the gate.   
"All we need to do is get enough time to pay off the whole debt plus interest. I hope you've kept up on the interest."

"I have." Virgil nodded.

"There isn't anything you're neglecting to tell me?" Face demanded, using his Army Lieutenant's voice. Even if Virgil technically outranked him. Virgil shook his head.

"No, Sir."

"Good, also. Don't look but the FBI is here. We'll need to do this very carefully. Don't say anything Mob related."

Face nodded towards a grey van behind his shoulder. Virgil didn't look. He was trained to know better. Their conversation is cut short as a guard came down to the gate to see what they needed.

~*~

Karl looked up, slightly surprised to see Virgil and someone else being escorted to the pool side where he sat at a table with his brother. True, it was usually too cold in New York for a pool, but it was heated and so they tended to spend most of their time in or by it.

"Virgil, I didn't invite you here." Karl said dangerously.

"Hello, I'm Richard Bancroft. Virgil here was in need of my services and so here I am. Ah. We are here about your investments." Bancroft said.

Karl looked over at Tom who glared at the two.

"What about it, are we loosing money?" Karl asked.

"No, well...." Bancroft made a noise of distress. "yet. You see. It just so happened that you and Virgil here had a deal, a deal that was going well until Your brother stepped in. Now Virgil can't keep up his end of the Deal and we were hoping you'd be kind enough to manage this account yourself." Bancroft explained.

Karl looked over at Tom; who is red in the face with anger.

"What have I told you about..." Karl cut himself off. There was a reason Bancroft was using these terms. He coughed once.

"Alright." he nodded. "I know there's been some misunderstandings. I don't mind. Sometimes it takes time for investments to pay up." he gave them both a hard look.

"Good, good..." Bancroft straightened his tie. "We'll have the rest of the account paid off in three days, is that enough time for you?"

Karl frowned but nodded. "Plus interest."

"Of course." And with their business concluded the two saw themselves out.

~*~

Neal had to step away fro his desk otherwise he was going to do something like steal everyone els's case files and replace them with stacks upon stacks of IRS files. The numbers were getting to him and it's times like these he'd just broke out of Prison and went to France. Fuck Kate and Fuck Peter.

And that's when someone approached his desk. Someone dressed in an Army Uniform. With the hat and blond hair, blue eyes and a smile made of gold.

"Excuse me, I was told that possibly you could help me out with these?"

Neal grinned, took the proffered ledger and put it down on his desk; "Let me guess, you just found it, right? recognized the name on it...and decided to do the right thing?"

"What a lucky guess." the man winked, tipped his hat and then turned in the style of a march and left almost as quickly as he had come. Neal wondered how The Faceman could get past the FBI security but then shrugged it off. He was part of the A-Team and it was part of their job to get past security. The man probably didn't even bat an eye as he passed the pretty receptionist, he gave her a grin. And she let him in. It was possibly the Uniform. Those things tended to make people far more trusting. But it was a hefty sentence to impersonate anyone in blue or green.

Neal opened the ledger. Then he called Peter.

~*~

Virgil and Templeton sat on the balcony. It was lower than the one June sported. The roof of her building rose high above his so they sat under the umbrella.

"Thanks." Virgil said.

"Not a problem." Templeton shook his head.

"My friends weren't too happy to find out that we knew each other and that I did't introduce them." Virgil explained.

"I'm sure." Templeton laughed. He wasn't used to being thought of as a great Conman. One to pass something on to the next generation of Criminal's.

"I've a friend who could possibly forge those documents your team needs." Virgil said. The fee may have been waved but that didn't mean he didn't still owe Templeton.

Templeton thought about for two seconds, before shaking his head; "My Team would never forgive me if they ever found out."

"No." Virgil said. "I don't think so either."

~*~

Mozz listened in on the conversation happening below them; relaying it to June and Neal.

"It wouldn't be too hard to forge it if I knew what sort of paper the original was on or what wording." Neal mused.

"Well you can't, because neither of them will ask and the original documents are lost." June replied.

"Still..."

"All we can do is make sure Decker doesn't know that one of the A-Team was here." Mozz said.

"It'll have to do." Neal sighed.

"But still, forging Army documents..."

"Not the most exciting thing you've ever forged." Mozz reminded him.

"Well, it's for a good cause. If their story is true."

"Which we can't verify."

~*~

The next day the house next door is empty, the lights put out the evening before. The Faceman is long gone. Decker showed up hours later. Didn't find anything and left. Neal watched from his rooftop hangout.

Virgil is in a Gambler's Anon program. Mozz warns the bookies off to keep Virgil on the narrow line. And if a box of Cuban Cigar's end up in Hannibal's hands, via his Lieutenant, well....no one is none the wiser.


End file.
